ABSTRACT
The decline in the performance of social democratic parties across Europe has been coupled with a rise of new radical left-wing parties which seemingly have emerged from the new protests movements that have been prominent since the end of the cold war. This chapter suggests that the populist strategies adopted by Corbyn and Sanders can be viewed in a manner that Gramsci understood as an attempt to try and build a‘national-popular’ collective will that is vital when looking to challenge the key principles or ‘common-sense’ of a prevailing hegemonic order. It shows that both campaigns of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders have looked and to an extent succeeded in de-legitimatising forms of hegemonic neoliberal principles that had previously been endorsed by both parties since the end of the cold war. It also suggests that whilst a new form of politics might be emerging on the left that looks to engage in contesting popular hegemonic attitudes, this process remains in its infancy.
